KHOMAS REGIONAL COUNCIL

Khomas Regional Council sets the record straight on the alleged shady deals at the regional council in reference to the report of the Auditor General on the Accounts of the Khomas Regional Council.

Query: At least N$11.18 million has disappeared from the Khomas Regional Council accounts without trace.

Response: The Khomas Regional Council would like to set the record straight that the N$11.18 million dollars alleged to have disappeared without trace from its accounts is NOT missing. This money was used for the upgrade of the sewer network in Groot Aub, a project funded by the Trust Fund for Regional Development and Equity Provision. The regional council played a facilitating role in the implementation of this project with the limited role of issuing completion certificates to the Trust Fund in order to effect payments to suppliers and contractors. This means that the Trust Fund was paying suppliers directly and the money earmarked for this project was never transferred to the regional council’s accounts.

For that reason the council could not post the transactions regarding this project on its financial system nor reflect such money in its financial statements for the 2013/2014 financial year. All the original transaction documents for this project were submitted to the Trust Fund, as the funding partner, which was a pre-request to effect payment. The regional council only kept copies of these transactions for record purposes. Furthermore, it should be noted that the Trust Fund is an independent entity and it needs the original transaction documents for its own financial records.

It is important to note that the project to upgrade the Sewer Network in Groot Aub is progressing well and it now runs in Phase 7.

Query: Khomas Regional Council failed to disclose a bank account with a balance of N$2.4 million dollars.

Response: The account in question belongs to Khomas Regional Council – Directorate of Education. The account was opened by the regional council for the Directorate of Education in Khomas, a delegated function of the regional council. During the time that this account was created, it could not be registered on the council’s financial system as the Education Directorate was using a different financial system from the one the regional council was using, resulting in the non-discloser of this account. However, this problem has been solved and the account is now registered and reflecting on the regional council system and will be disclosed in the next financial year.
In conclusion the Khomas Regional Council would like to state clearly that there’s no money missing from its accounts and our books are open for scrutiny.